Only the trees can save this town from evil
Offline Tree nuptials offer solace to troubled Indian town
Wed Dec 6, 2006 7:27 AM GMT29
MALDA, India (Reuters) - Hundreds of people are flocking to a remote Indian town to offer prayers to two trees that were "married" off in a bid to keep evil spirits at bay, officials said on Wednesday.
Alarmed by a string of accidental deaths, murders and burglaries, local people decided it was time the trees, one a banyan tree which had wrapped itself around the trunk of the other, tied the knot.
More than 250 people gathered in English Bazaar, in West Bengal state, on Tuesday for the ceremony as priests chanted hymns and decorated the conjoined trunks of two 25-year-old trees with colourful cloth, streaks of vermilion and garlands.
"There was an evil eye casting a spell and a few senior government employees* had planted two trees here to bring peace but could not organise the marriage ceremony as they died from illness," Gouranga Mandal, a local official*, told Reuters.
"Worshipping the trees will bring peace on earth," said Bharati Jha, a 65-year-old woman who lives in English Bazaar, about 340 km (200 miles) north of the state capital, Kolkata.
"The trees only can save us," added Lakshmi Das, a 30-year-old housewife, who presented the trees with two saris and other wedding gifts.
*emphasis mine
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Funny. Still, no more irrational than other religions.
apologies for this (my first thoughts aren't always my best)
The Trees
------Rush
There is unrest in the forest,
There is trouble with the trees,
For the maples want more sunlight
And the oaks ignore their pleas.
The trouble with the maples,
(And they're quite convinced they're right)
They say the oaks are just too lofty
And they grab up all the light.
But the oaks can't help their feelings
If they like the way they're made.
And they wonder why the maples
Can't be happy in their shade.
There is trouble in the forest,
And the creatures all have fled,
As the maples scream "Oppression!"
And the oaks just shake their heads
So the maples formed a union
And demanded equal rights.
"The oaks are just too greedy;
We will make them give us light."
Now there's no more oak oppression,
For they passed a noble law,
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet, axe, and saw.
"I do this real moron thing, and it's called thinking. And apparently I'm not a very good American because I like to form my own opinions."
— George Carlin
Trees helped me out back when Saruman was giving me shit:
haha good one
(To the tune of "Beware The Killer Tents" by Moxy Fruvous)
The Ents are coming, over the hill.
We thought they were inanimate, but now they're set to kill.
At Isenguard this summer somehow we've enraged the forest gods.
Ents have turned to stomping, crashing, tower smashing logs.
I don't really like "logs" as the last word, but it was all I could come up with that fit. Oh well.